It is generally known that cooking foodstuff can be carried out according to different methods and under different conditions.
One of the generally known cooking methods is steaming or steam cooking, where steam is generated in or brought into the cooking chamber, and which therein induces respective cooking processes, in particular depending on the temperature, pressure and other parameters within the cooking chamber.
In order to optimize steam cooking performance and/or optimize energy consumption it is helpful or required to control the steam condition within the chamber.
In order to control humidity within steam cooking chambers of steaming ovens, it is for example known from EP 0 701 388 B1 to use a humidity sensor to directly measure humidity within the steam cooking chamber. Albeit such a humidity sensor may be comparatively precise, it is comparatively expensive.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,980 A a method of determining or estimating the humidity within the steam cooking chamber is known in which the temperature or temperature change of air flowing, by the effect of a pressure field of a ventilating fan, through a small bypass between the inner volume and the outside of the steam cooking chamber, is used for estimating the humidity level within the chamber. This possibility probably may be realized in an easy way, however it is considered not that reliable as it greatly depends on the efficiency of the fan.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a method of estimating or determining the humidity level within a steam cooking chamber of a steam cooking appliance or oven, which method on the one hand may be implemented comparatively simple and cost efficient, and on the other hand is comparatively reliable. Further, under similar considerations, a method of operating a steam cooking appliance, in particular oven, and a steam cooking appliance, in particular oven, shall be provided.